Montana State Senator Bruce Tutvedt of Kalispell should stand up for the truth, not right wing blather. I fear he was intentionally misleading in his Ravalli Republic letter on 3/11/12. As a public servant he’s doing a disservice to Montanans, and should personally correct his erroneous statement regarding the South Carolina Boeing plant.
In his opinion piece Mr. Tutvedt rails against unions, President Obama, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The “high profile” example that’s the cornerstone of his anti-labor argument fails because it’s glaringly untrue.
He falsely claims that the President and labor’s influence on the NLRB “culminated with Obama’s labor relations board prohibiting a Boeing manufacturing facility from being located in a state not favored by big labor.” I don’t believe Mr. Tutvedt accidentally used the verb “prohibit,” defined as “to forbid by authority” or “to prevent, preclude.” For he’s trying to make a shocking point that labor’s influence is so enormous that Obama and the NLRB PREVENTED the Boeing plant from opening in South Carolina. Problem is he’s not telling the truth.
The truth: Boeing needed to open a second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner as orders were increasing. Boeing decided to open this nonunion plant in SC. The $750 million plant opened in June 2011! The NLRB accused Boeing of opening its new plant in SC in retaliation against union strikes at its main plant in Seattle. The NLRB dropped its case against Boeing in December 2011. The Boeing plant’s alive and thriving–lots of decent nonunion jobs at fair wages. Guess Mr. Tutvedt knew that already.
Mr. Tutvedt, in the future feel free to make legitimate arguments against good union folks, organized labor and its influence, and President Obama’s labor leanings. But please sir, tell the truth so we can make our own fact-based decisions.
Stanley Schroeder
Hamilton